A Winters Gift
by WrittenInBold
Summary: Zelda is terrified to apologize to Link for the ways shes treated him, convinced that he must loathe her, despite the fact that he saved her from the Yiga Clan two weeks prior. However, when her mysterious knight begins leaving every morning for some odd winter ritual, her curiosity gets the best of her, and she follows him. What she finds is horribly... innocent, and encouraging.


**Author's Note:** This is a fluffy little short story that takes place just after Link saves Zelda from the Yiga Clan in BOTW canon, nothing to serious, except maybe the beginning. Compared to my other works, this is a much more pleasant, fluffier read, and I had a blast writing it. However, I really would love and suggest you check out my main story _Breath of the Wild, The Phantom Realm._ Its a much more gritty, angsty read, but there is still that much needed ZeLink.

On that note, I hope you all enjoy this heart warming story.

* * *

~A Winter's Gift~

* * *

" _I am unsure how to put today's events into words._ _Words so often evade me lately, and now more than ever. He saved me. Without a thought for his own life, he protected me from the ruthless blades of the Yiga Clan. Though I've been cold to him all this time...taking my selfish and childish anger out on him at every turn... Still, he was there for me. I won't ever forget that. Tomorrow, I shall apologize for all that has transpired between us. And then...I will try talking to him. To Link. It's worth a shot."_

* * *

Zelda had yet to follow through with her claim to apologize, and talk with Link as she had written in her diary, however. Despite her multiple attempts to do so, every time she opened her mouth to speak, her heart would set into a nervous, downright terrified beating as the heat under her skin skyrocketed, promptly sealing her lips shut. Why would he want to hear her apology? All she had ever been to him was vicious, unfeeling, and crude.

With a bitter frown, Zelda recalled the first time she met him.

It was shortly after he had pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal, and was welcomed into Hyrule Castle by her father. The moment she laid her eyes on him, her heart shuddered with contempt for the boy who so effortlessly unlocked his power. This boy, wearing the tattered tunic of a lesser knight, having nothing to his name but the recognition of being a well accomplished swordsman, marched into the Inner Sanctum without a single indication as to what emotion lay underneath his stoic eyes, and listened to the King's charge with nothing but, "yes, your Majesty," on his lips.

She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him back then.

Zelda had been speechless. How could someone so plain and simple as himself wrench free _The_ Sword of Evil's Bane like one would wrench free a quill from its inkwell? How was it that a lowly knight could reach his full potential without breaking a sweat, and yet she ―the highborn Princess of Hyrule, and carrier of the Blood of Hylia― could not?

Oh, how many countless hours she wasted hating him, blaming him, lashing out at him for her own shortcomings. The first thing she ever said to him was nothing short of vile. Link had come to her first, after his lengthy induction into the title of _Champion_ , and offered the first olive branch of rapport, but all she did was walk over him indignantly.

"My lady," he had said to her that day with a proper bow, his quiet voice lacking any emotion. "I ̶ "

"I do not need your pampered words, nor do I need your service," she had fired back at him with a nasty snarl before he could even continue. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you kept quiet, and left me to my own." In the briefest moment of hurt, his eyebrows knitted together before he bowed again, and stood to the side without another word. Thinking back on that day, Zelda realized that was the first and last time she ever saw emotion of any type on his face. In addition to that, she could probably count the number of times he had spoken on the fingers of her right hand alone.

The fact that she was surely the cause of this silence made her heart twist with abject guilt.

How could he feel anything short of absolute hatred for her? Why would he ever risk his life to save her from the clutches of the Yiga Clan? She had been the one that snuck away that day in Gerudo Desert after avoiding him for weeks in the first place. And yet, once she was safe, all he did was help her stand, led her to Kara Kara Bazaar, and then declared that it would be wise for them to return to Hyrule Castle to avoid being caught in the coming winter storms.

His demeanor remained utterly unchanged, and void of any signs of humanity. There was no 'I told you so,' or 'I think you owe me an apology.' He was not boastful, or openly spiteful, nor did he ask for thanks. He simply continued his service, and spoke no more than ten words to her.

That is why she was positively terrified to go through with what she was about to do… Follow the trail he left behind in the snow.

The day after they had returned from Hyrule Castle, the winter winds finally rolled in, and with it brought two feet of fresh snow. That was when she noticed her Appointed Knight begin a peculiar ritual every day thereafter. From the Family Study window, she would watch as Link ―donned in thick winter clothing, the Master Sword and a shield on his back― trudge his way out to the Hyrule Forest Park to the east, and disappear among the trees. He would be gone for a few hours each morning, and then would return in time for lunch, his cheeks and nose a rosy red color from the cold.

It was his seventh time doing it since they had returned, and Zelda had finally given into to the calling of her scientific mind, suited up in her warmest Rito Quill Tunic, and snuck out the castle gate ―just as easily as she had done countless time before― to follow him.

The curiosity was killing her at this point. What was her mysterious knight doing out there among the trees? Did she even have a right to know? After all the horrible times she insulted him, cursed him, practically spat in his face for merely doing his job, how could she dare to impose on this strange ritual he undertook every morning in the cold snow, clearly wanting to partake in this task alone?

How drastically her mind had flipped in the last two weeks, Zelda mused. Before, she tried to force any thought of him out of her mind, for fear of growing angry, or actively seeking to avoid him, or purposefully 'losing' him on the road, but now he was all she thought about. She thought about how she treated him, how he must absolutely loathe her, and how she still had not accessed her Sealing Powers like he had accessed the Master Sword. Guilt, in those cold quiet winter days was the only prevailing emotion in her heart.

She knew she deserved the pain she was feeling. She was the one who acted like a selfish child, not him. She could never blame him for hating her. Zelda just prayed that she could somehow make it up to him, as unworthy of his forgiveness as she was, and being left completely lonely in the Castle only made her pain worse. At least during the summer, she could get out, and explore the world, but with snow up to her thigh, there was little chance of making it past Mabe Ranch without freezing into an icicle.

That meant all her time was spent indoors, where she had no friends, and rarely saw her father because of the strain between them. She was unequivocally miserable. Zelda realized that perhaps that was another reason she simply could not resist the temptation of following Link.

Maybe, just maybe, she could fix the bridge she burned down between them, and find a friend within him.

 _Fat chance of that happening,_ she grumbled to herself as she hid behind a nearby tree, having thought that she had been spotted by her Appointed Knight, a few hundred yards away. She waited patiently for a minute, peaked around the bark, and then struck back out to follow his trail once she was sure she had not been seen. Before long she caught sight of him again. It seemed he was very well set on just blissfully strolling through the woods at a relaxed pace, as she found it easy to trail him even as she crouched and snuck around. It was odd seeing his shoulders so lax and free when he walked. Every time she ever saw him travel, he looked as if every muscle in his back was stiff, and his eyes constantly darted from one potential ambush site to the next, but now he looked as if he had not a care in the world.

Zelda continued to follow him as he worked his way through the snow, every so often stopping to observe something of interest, until at last he stopped just shy of a steep hill that lead to a small brook. On instinct, Zelda ducked behind a large snow-topped fern, and watched as he checked his surroundings with a keen eye. She let out a quiet breath of relief when he had not spotted her, and continued on his way.

What he did next, however, left her positively thunderstruck.

With his right hand, he pulled his great big round plain wooden shield free from his back, laid it flat upon the crunched snow before him, sat down, and then pushed off with his hands, sending him careening down the hillside. And then something she had never heard before echoed softly through the peaceful woods… Something sweet, and pure… and innocent.

Link, her borderline mute knight, was laughing with child-like joy.

As quickly as she could run without drawing attention to herself, Zelda bolted to the peak of the hillside, and peered down at her knight, who was now dismounting his makeshift sled, and jovially hopped over the little stream in front of him before continuing on his way. Her jaw hung wide open as she watched his whole body swing into action as he marched up the opposite side of the stream, swinging his arms and legs like had never had a care in the world, and whistled a jaunty tune. Never in the six months that she had know him, had he ever displayed this unprecedented amount of liveliness in his manner of body language.

Entranced by her flabbergasted curiosity, Zelda rushed down the hillside, skipped over the brook, trailed back up the other side, hid behind a large mass of concealing thickets, and continued her wild observation.

The woods, she found, parted into a large open field just past the hill, and judging by Link's heading, that was exactly where he intended to go. Resting comfortably on her knees atop a patch of packed in snow, she watched as he tracked out to the center of the meadow, and set his heavy equipment down, all while still whistling his merry tune. She noticed that scattered throughout the field were several large mounds of snow, roughly the same height as Link although they were wider at the base, and then on the far east corner was an even larger mound that resembled a three-sided fort. He stuck the sheathed Master Sword standing straight up in the snow, rested his shield against it, and then from the rucksack that hung around his shoulder he removed a small shovel, which was roughly the length of his arm once the handle hand been unfolded, and worked his way over to one of the small mounds.

It appeared that he was continuing his work from the day before, carving the mound with the blade of his shovel.

Upon her second observation of the smaller mounds, Zelda realized that they resembled thin snowmen. In fact, they were snowmen. She blinked in disbelief at what she was seeing… Master Link, the Chosen Hero and declared Champion of Hyrule, the man who so effortlessly and thoughtlessly cut down a Yiga accomplice in the name of her safety, and had never shown any emotion besides a brief furrowing of the eyebrows, was building snowmen alone in the woods like a child on their first ever winter solstice.

And more than that, he was beaming with a great toothy smile… She had never seen him smile before… Not even the slightest inclination towards a grin.

Zelda was unabashedly at a complete loss of words.

It was such a wonderful smile too ―his rich blue eyes squinted when his cheeks rose, and his nose crinkled cheerily― which made the guilt and sadness well up inside her chest… All this time she had been a constant source of misery for him, stoutly shooing away one of the sweetest smiles she had ever seen in her life. She was sad to see it lessen as he took to whistling again, but his eyes still squinted. Link diligently worked to finish carving his snowman, until he at last pulled two branches from a nearby tree, and gave it arms, then used two small rocks for eyes, and then produced a long-crooked carrot from his rucksack, and stuck it right where the snowman's nose would be. Then, as a finished touch he placed a long green stocking cap on its head, and hummed with satisfaction.

He continued this process with the other snowmen as well, although they all had their own assortments of hats, noses, and eyes, ranging from scarfs, turbans, and even a wide-brimmed hat. How he managed to fit all of it inside his small rucksack, she could never imagine, but he had by some miracle.

As he worked with a skip in his step, his whistling and humming soon parted into a jubilant song; one she imagined you could hear at any old inn. He had a very pleasant voice too, if she were so bold to say.

" _O' when the winter winds o' chap your nose,  
_ _and frost nips at your toes.  
_

 _There is one way proven o' so true,  
_ _to warm you to the bones._

 _Take a merry o' flask right in yer hand,  
_ _Or drink a mighty ale,  
_ _for a tummy-ey so full of mead, can battle any hail…"_

He hummed the next part, occasionally wiping his nose before a quick sniffle and jumped back into song.

" _No, a half-pint or an empty glass simply will not do,  
_ _for there's no better cure o' the winter blues,  
_ _than a drink with a lass or two._

 _For I say to you, my fellow man,  
_ ' _When nights grow cold and grim,  
_ _that nothin' warms the heart quite like warmth of a lovin' friend.'"_

Link's joyful tune fell to a sad silence when he sang his last verse, and his once beaming smile faded away like the sun behind a storm cloud, only to be over taken by a gloomy and sad expression. It had not dawned on Zelda that she was smiling too, until her mouth dipped into a frown seeing Link's sudden solemn change. Watching the way he glanced at each snowmen's' lifeless faces, as if he was searching for something within them he simply could not find made her heart seize up…

For a moment, she thought that perhaps she could grasp what made him sad, but surely, she was wrong… right?

Surely, he had plenty of friends… but then, why would he come trudging through the bitter cold every morning into these isolated woods just to build snowmen by himself? She shuffled forward a tad on her hands and knees to get a better look, but to her absolute horror, her foot snagged on a dead branch hidden beneath the snow and made a loud cracking noise.

Link, who was standing a yard or so away from his sword, dashed into a roll, and wrenched the Master Sword from its sheath in a perfectly smooth motion as he landed back on his feet ready to fight whatever caused the intrusive noise. Zelda held her anxious breath, hoping he would not see her, but as his sharp gaze scanned the forest around him, his eyes unfortunately landed right on her, and flashed with uneasy surprise.

All in an instant, the fleshy warmth in his face vanished, and he snapped to attention with a stern expression, bringing the Master Sword to his side, and bowed deeply.

"Forgive me, my lady," he said with an unwavering but airless voice. If his face was void of color, then hers was the complete opposite. Zelda was unbelievably embarrassed at her discovery, and the heat and color of her face was the token to prove it. She stammered for words like she had never done before… and to think… she prided herself on always knowing what to say, but now…

"For what?" she managed to say as she wobbled to a stand, but it only made her face burn with a deeper red. Link seemed at a loss for words, as ironic as it was, but he offered up a hesitant response anyways.

"I did not know you needed my assistance today, my lady. I should have thought to check before excusing myself."

"No, no, no," Zelda rushed to say, regardless of her embarrassment. "I shouldn't… I was… I should be the one apologizing." His eyes blinked with confusion, but he remained silent, even though his mouth hung slightly open as if there were something on the tip of his tongue. "I... I was… um. Curious." With a quick glance, Zelda peaked at the snowman beside him, the one that had the green stocking cap, and hoped for an explanation, however, the stoic look in his eyes said otherwise.

"My lady," he began. "Its terribly cold out here. Your face is turning dreadfully red because of it. If it pleases you, I can lead you back to the castle."

"No, wait," Zelda suddenly said, wringing her hands together nervously. At that point she was almost completely unable to even look him in the eyes. "I… I've been meaning to tell you something… I just… I was worried that…" She cleared her throat, and forced herself to look him in the eyes.

 _You can do this!_ she chided herself. _It doesn't matter if he does not accept. You have to say it._ His eyebrows raised slightly in a rare expression of his perplexity.

"What I mean to say is that I wanted to apologize," she finally blurted, taking a big step out into the field.

"What for, my lady?" he asked, as if she had never committed a sin in her life.

"For everything," she let out, finally finding her voice. "For everything I've done and said… I know how I've treated you has been nothing short of appalling. There is no excuse for how I acted, and I don't expect you to forgive me… I wouldn't blame you… I truly have been acting worse than a selfish child."

His head tilted ever so slightly, but she was unsure of exactly what it was supposed to entail, so she continued as she carefully continued to step forward.

"I was angry with you," she said. "I was angry because I was jealous that you were able to free the Master Sword from its pedestal so quickly, whereas I haven't even felt a drop of my power… I had no right to take it out on you… and I know I have no right to ask for forgiveness, but you laid your life on the line to save me, and that made me realize how awful I have been. The least I could do is try to fix what I've broken. Nothing would make me happier if you could give me a second chance."

For a few mortifying seconds Zelda waited with bated breath, until he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I knew why you were angry, my lady," he answered, his stern eyes finally softening. "And I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt, but I'm not angry with you."

Zelda's eyes grew wide with… well she could not say… Wonder? Shock?

"At first I didn't understand," he admitted, his voice dipping into what she could have mistaken as actual― _real_ human emotion. "but after trailing your shadow for six months now, I came to understand the struggles you face. I know how you feel, having everyone expect nothing but absolute perfection from you. How you feel that you're not enough. How the King reprimands you… Urbosa helped me understand better as well. When I finally came to realize why you were angry, I was willing to accept anything you threw towards me… I was willing to be the means by which you vented your frustration."

"But I had no right to do that to you," Zelda insisted, disbelieving that he had spoken so much. "How do _you_ vent your frustration!?"

Link's only answer was a quick glance to the snowmen behind him, and then the faintest brow-furrowed expression of embarrassment.

"I have my ways," he said ambiguously, before brushing the thought aside. "Besides, you are the Princess, and I am your knight. You have every right to treat me as you see fit."

"No, that's not true," Zelda declared. "That is not the type of ruler I want to be. I don't want to bully, and scare my subjects into… well. I want to be a ruler that people can look up to. Besides, you're more than just a knight now. You're the Chosen Hero, and it is better for everyone if we get along, and since I have been the main obstacle in that, I sincerely want to change it, and start anew." In a show of her dedication to this, Zelda offered her hand to Link, hoping desperately that he would accept it. "I promise that I will no longer take my frustration out on you, and I pray that you can find it in your heart to forgive my selfishness."

Her heart leapt with joy when he smiled ever so slightly, took her hand in his, and gave it a firm shake as he bowed his head.

"Forgiveness is easy to give, my lady. I would gladly accept your promise."

"Thank you, Link," she said, clasping her other hand atop of his. "Truly." For a moment, all they did was look into each other's eyes, which was when an odd thought came to her… one that had never crossed her mind before, at least not in this way… He had very handsome eyes. _Very_ handsome. Zelda considered this simple revelation until she suddenly realized that she was still holding his hand much, _much_ longer than was strictly necessary.

She quickly withdrew, feeling a slight rosy burn in her cheeks, and she slaved away to ignore the odd sensation that arose in her chest.

"Well," she sighed with relief, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Now that that is over, I would like to know… Why on earth are you out here all alone, building snowmen?"

She nearly let out a loud chortle when the tips of his ears turned a bright red color… Yet another astonishingly new expression she had never experienced from her faithful knight, and better yet, he was stammering for words.

"I… uh. Well. There's not exactly much to do in the Castle," he answered as he cautiously scratched the back of his nape. "I suppose I was bored."

"This seems like a lot of well thought-out planning for it to merely be boredom," Zelda replied as she circled the closest snowman to get a closer look. "That song you were singing earlier… It mentions being in the company of friends, does it not?"

"Yes, my lady," Link replied, sounding unsure.

"I guess I was just wondering why you haven't brought along any friends to… eh… play in the snow with you?" Now that she asked it, she realized how much of an embarrassing question it might have been for him to answer. As a knight of Hyrule, and the Chosen One at that, he was expected to maintain the utmost sense of maturity and decorum, but playing in the snow certainly did not paint the best picture. He would have surely been scolded by his superiors if they found out.

However, he was not even considered a man by the Knight's Standards. In fact, he was only a few months older than herself, landing him at a very youthful sixteen years of age… They were still considered children in most eyes, and yet they were tasked with a truly heavy fate… Defeating the Calamity.

Fate had been most unkind to their childhoods, she realized. For both of them. Yet, perhaps that was an aspect that they could learn to bond over… In fact, she hoped for that.

"I…" he said distantly. "I'm not sure who I would ask, my lady."

"What do you mean?" His eyes shifted uncomfortably for a moment before he answered, although it was a very round about way of doing so.

"I suppose what I mean is some people can be scared away by things so unknown like fate, destiny… prophecies. I believe many would find a shortage of friends when they found to be a herald of impending doom… Figuratively speaking of course, my lady."

"I suppose I know what you mean," Zelda sighed melancholily, carefully watching the expressiveness of his eyes as they drifted from snowman to snowman. "The other champions are really the only friends I have… Of course, with this much snow blocking the roads in between our respective regions it's a tad bit difficult to visit them."

"Yes," Link sighed in agreeance. "Daruk and Mipha are really the only ones I am close with… Urbosa is kind, of course, but not quite as close. And then Revali. Well, I suppose I ruffled his feathers the wrong way… But I'm in the same boat."

"Well then," Zelda said as she knelt in the snow and began to gather some in her gloved hands. "Since we're in the same boat, then I suppose there is no escape ̶ " With a quick of an arm as she could muster, Zelda chunked a soft snowball directly at Link, hitting him right in the skin just below the chin and above the neck. It took a moment for him to register what happened, and for a moment his eyes deceived complete surprise… and then the beaming smile that she saw on his lips earlier that day resurfaced; the one that she could now only describe and infections and endearing.

In the blink of an eye, all the loneliness that ever glimpsed either of their hearts vanished.

Zelda rushed to gather another snowball, but before she even formed it properly, a great massive ball of snow nearly knocked her onto her back.

And then that wonderful laugh of his echoed clear across the cold winter air, signaling that the fight was on!

Calling on every ounce of her speed, and finished forming her snowball, and took off running, half screaming, half laughing as she was pelted on the back at least three times with deadly accuracy. As soon as she was ducking behind the safety of a nearby boulder, Zelda spun on her heel, a uncontrollable smile on her face as she readied to fire back on her opponent: The Legendary Wielder of the Master Sword.

Link, however, was not there. At some point in her strategic retreat, he had slipped away.

 _No doubt a secret ambush,_ she told herself with the giddiness of a child. Taking advantage of this respite, Zelda quickly formed an arm's full worth of snowballs, and carefully eyed her surroundings, still not finding Link anywhere.

"Hiding will get you nowhere, Master Link," she teased, trying her best to contain her insistent giggles. "Come now, I thought you were the Hero of Courage! Why don't you come out and face me?"

"And give up this strategic advantage!?" she heard him reply, his voice brimming with laughter. Zelda looked to the direction that his voice had come from, and low and behold, there he was, standing in the three-walled fort he made out of snow.

However, it appeared that he had not only built walls, but a large platform too, as he easily stood five feet about the ground level.

"I've been building this mighty fortress for a week," he cheered in a heroic battle cry. "I will die defending it!"

"Very well," Zelda shot back fiercely. "Prepare yourself, Master Link! I show no mercy!"

Snowballs in hand, Zelda leapt over Fort Boulder, and charged valiantly to meet her opponent in battle. She lobbed snowballs of his fortress wall, narrowly missing his smug face, to which he returned fire in almost endless barrages. She was forced to take cover behind one of his snowmen… The one with the green stocking cap, no less.

"I see you've cheated by preparing you ammunition before the war," Zelda shouted with an actress's indignation. "I thought better of you, Sir Link!"

"Better over prepared, then underprepared I always say, Princess," he replied before destroying her snowman-bodyguard with massive snowballs, leaving his little cap disheveled in the snow.

"Well then you won't mind if I use this," she shouted as he wrenched his wooden shield from its resting place, and put it on her arm. "Oh, and this!" As an afterthought, she took her valiant snowman-bodyguard's green cap, and pulled it over her head of long golden hair right down to her ears before charging back into battle.

Using her newly acquired shield, Zelda charged Fort Courage with the enemy's own devices used against him, until she finally looped around back, snowball in hand and took aim. The only thing was that it seemed he accounted for all possibilities, as the moment she moved her shield to fire, he already had a snowball bigger than his own head held high, and prepared to drop it on her.

"Down with the enemy," he cried with a debonair smile, although he paused for just the briefest of moments. Zelda took advantage of that, and lobbed her snowball, hitting him square in the jaw. He acted as if he were dazed, and teetered back and forth, until he ' _accidentally'_ dropped the massive snowball he held above directly onto his own head. With all the theatrics he could muster, Link dropped to his knees and fell back against the north wall of his fortress.

"I have been bested," he gasped, clutching his chest as he pretended to pass out, barely able to hide his smile.

"Serves you right, heathen! Now I decla ̶ Link!" Just as she began to clamber up into his fort, the wall behind him caved out, and he went head under heels over the wall with a surprised yelp, and landed below as the following snow slide buried him. Dropping her shield, Zelda jumped down from the fort, and rushed around as fast she could.

"Link! Are you alright!?" Most of his body was completely buried under a foot of snow, so she began to dig with her hands in a great panic, eventually uncovering him from the waist up. His eyes were still closed, but he was breathing. "Link," she yelled as she slapped his cheeks, but he did not awake. Unsure of what to do, she quickly unburied the rest of his body, and pulled the green cap from her head, and snugly pulled it over his, and tucked his ears underneath it in an effort to warm him.

"Link, Link! Wake up! Open your eyes!"

"You're not very good at this whole acting thing, you know," he suddenly murmured, trying his best to contain his smile, and forced his eyes closed harder. "I guess I'm just too good of an actor. You're supposed to dance on my grave and drink to your victory!"

"Master Link!" she scolded, smashing a large, _very cold_ , slab of snow on his self-satisfied face. "I thought you were seriously hurt! How dare you play a trick on me!"

"Well at least you had the sense to put my night cap on me, so I could sleep nicely and comfortably in my snowy bed."

"Don't make me shove a snowball down your shirt," she threatened him, although she was already slipping into a hysterical laughter.

"Hylia forbid I evoke you to such violent measures, Princess," he said sarcastically. "Please, forgive my wretched ways!"

"I could be convinced," Zelda said as she yanked the hat off his head and put it back on herself.

"I beseech thee, o' fair maiden, what doth ye require of thoust most amiable knight?"

"Teach me how to go sledding on your shield, like you did earlier," Zelda answered with a great big hopeful grin.

"Of course, my lady!"

* * *

"Now it's quite simple, my lady" Link said over her shoulder as he sat on the shield behind her, tucking his knees under her arms. Zelda was just beginning to get an inkling of the sensation that she like him being this close to her… He was incredibly warm to lean against to say the least, but perhaps it was more than that. She was interested to find out. "Just hold on, and don't let your feet drag until you're ready to stop… Oh and make sure you do stop before we hit the stream. I'd rather us not get wet and have to fish you out and carry you all the way back to the castle as a frozen Princesscicle."

"I don't know, that sounds kind of fun," Zelda joked.

"Don't."

Even she had to admit, his tone demanded obedience, even if she was just joking.

"Now, you ready, Princess?"

"Onwards, Sir Link!"

With a shimmy and a push, the two of them began to fly down the snowy hill, turning up trails of snow as they zoomed past trees. The whole way down, Zelda laughed hysterically. She could not recall a time she had ever had so much fun!

"Feet down, Zelda!" Link suddenly called in her ear. Realizing the stream was coming up dangerously close, she kicked her feet out, and dug them into the snow, however the closer they came to the water's edge, the more worried she was that they were not going to be able to stop in time.

In fact, they would have, had Link not wrapped hi arm around her waist, and bailed them off to the side. They tumbled over each other a few times, rolling through the snow and bushes, until at last they came to a stop just shy of the stream, Zelda precariously ending just on top of Link.

"Could have gone worse," Link began to laugh as he looked at the water. "Perhaps I should have ridden in the driver's seat."

"You probably should have," Zelda giggled. "But at least we didn't end up as icicles!"

"I suppose that's a good thing," he chuckled, but then his wry smile evened out a little more seriously. "Um… Princess."

"Yes?"

"Would you mind rolling off. I got a bit of a creak in the back."

"Oh!" Zelda gasped, her face turning a bright red. "Sorry, of course!"

"Not to worry," he said as he sat up with a _huff._ "But with that done, I think it's about time we head back. I'm rather hungry. Starving in fact."

"You know, Daruk told me you're quite the glutton. Which I find hard to believe considering how thin you are," she said as she jabbed him in the side.

"Its called being lean, Princess. And yes, I do enjoy a good meal… or two… or four."

"Well how about this," Zelda laughed. "You promise me we can come back here tomorrow, and I can get you as much food as your gluttonous heart desires."

"You make it sound like only one of those is a good thing," Link teased. "I would be glad to bring you back here."

"Thank you," Zelda replied in a sentimental tone before standing and dusting all the loose snow on her Rito Tunic. "You know, never in a million years did I think that you, one of the quietest men I have ever met ―through no small fault of my own, I'm certain― could be so…"

"So what?" Link asked with a funny expression.

"Lively."

"Like I said, I'm a good actor, my lady. A Hero has to play the role as well as the next, no matter how he feels."

"Well then," Zelda said. "I admire your capabilities, but I must insist, when its just us, I don't want you to act. I want you to be you."

Link smiled in the way that he had done before, from ear to ear, and nodded.

"Yes, my lady."


End file.
